Okay, back to the book of Psalm. And I want you to look at Psalm
68 this morning. Psalm 68. Look at Psalm 68 verse
18. And our subject today is God's
salvation. God's salvation. Psalm 68 verse
18 says, Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity
captive. These words said before us the
resurrection and the glorious ascension and exaltation of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We know that because of what
Ron just read to us from Ephesians chapter 4. Isn't it interesting
how often the New Testament writers are led of the Holy Spirit to
go back into the Old Testament and draw forth nuggets of gold. And they said before us, the
New Testament writers said before us in a way that gives us understanding
of what the Old Testament writers were saying, they give us light
to see, to perceive, to give us understanding of what these
Old Testament writers were speaking about. The Bible talks about
the writings of Moses and then the Psalms and then the writings
of the prophets. And our Lord Jesus said, all
of these men, he said, they all spoke of me. You remember after
his resurrection, he appeared to his disciples and he opened
their understanding, opened their minds. He opened their hearts
so that they would, to a degree, comprehend that all of the things
that happened to the Lord Jesus, all of His sufferings and His
death, and the glory that He would enter into, all of those
things were set forth in the Old Testament Scriptures. The
Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament. It's made
known to us. And here David writes, by divine
inspiration, and he says, Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Well, who's the Thou? Well, we
know from Ephesians chapter 4, this is the Lord Jesus. This
is our Savior. He came into this world and He
gave His life to save His people from their sins. His name is
Jesus. Thou shalt save your people,
His people, from their sins. And he's been exalted on high
and on the basis of having finished that work of redemption, that
work of salvation that God gave him in the covenant of grace,
a work which he volunteered to do. On the basis of that, he
has been exalted, he ascended back on high. We're beginning
a study in the book of Acts. And in Acts chapter 1, as the
Lord's eleven apostles watched on with amazement. Of course,
Judas is dead and gone. But as those eleven watched on,
the Lord Jesus lifted up. He lifted up from their midst
and He stood in clouds. And those clouds received Him
back to glory. He ascended. He went back and
He took His seat at the right hand of the Father on high. On
what basis did He sit down? On what basis was He enthroned? Having finished that work, having
accomplished everything God gave Him to do. The work of redeeming
us, the work of paying our debt. The work of reconciling us to
God. We were enemies against God.
He has reconciled us to God. He has removed that vast amount
of sin that stood between us and a holy God. He moved it out
of the way and He put it into the depths of the deepest sea
and therefore God has exalted Him. So the scripture says, He
is ascended on high. Thou has descended on high. Thou
has led captivity captive. That is all of those enemies
of our souls who held us captive. What held us captive? Our own
sinfulness and Satan. Every enemy of our souls held
us captive. But the Lord Jesus, He came and
He went to war against all of them. He went to war against
every enemy of my soul and every enemy against the souls of His
people. And He took those into captivity. He took them captive. They became
His captives. We were their captives and now
they are His captives. How did He do that? By His death. by satisfying the justice of
God. And then he says, and thou hast
received gifts for men. Gifts? Oh yeah, an infinite number
of gifts. Mercy, forgiveness, righteousness,
access to God. Thou hast received gifts for
men. He's received all the promises
of God for us. All of these good things that
God had stored up in Christ for us, He gives us since our Lord
Jesus has settled the issue of our salvation by His substitutionary
death upon the cross of Calvary. All the gifts of grace, all the
gifts of salvation, all the gifts of glory. He received them and
He gives them to us. Keep two things in mind about
our Lord's death. He died to meet the demands of
the Father. He died to satisfy God. I know
usually when we think of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we think in terms of ourselves. And indeed we are beneficiaries
of the mercies and the blessings of God in the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But first and foremost, He died
for God. Because God's justice demanded
death for sin. God's law required damnation
upon those and for those who violated God's law. And that's
all of us. Our Lord Jesus died to satisfy
God, to satisfy His just demands. Isn't it right that God demands
that all sin be punished? Well, sure it's right. In our
country, we have laws. If you break those laws, then
there's a punishment to meet it out. And you go before a judge,
depending upon the seriousness of the crime, and perhaps a jury,
and you're found guilty. And then they give you a sentence
that is equivalent to or that satisfies
the justice of the court. And we have no problem with that. I have no issue with that. The
only issue that I might have is that they're sometimes too
lenient. But we know if you break man's law, then you stand before
men and men will determine a just and fair judgment or sentence. And we understand that concept. And our country exists upon those
laws. Break the law, you pay for it. Well, what about us breaking
God's laws? What about God's laws? God says,
love Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Do you
do that? No, you don't. Not even His people
do that. That means we're always in a
state of sinfulness. You say, I love the Lord. Do
you love Him perfectly? Well, no, I don't love Him perfectly.
Then that's sin. Don't tell me you haven't committed
any sins today. You've committed multitudes of
sins today because you don't love God with all your heart.
And what about loving your neighbor as yourself? Do you love your
neighbors yourself? Do you do good to your enemies?
The Lord Jesus said, do that. You hate anybody? Christ said,
you're guilty of murder. You're a murderer. Have you looked
on another person with lust in your heart? You've committed
adultery already in your heart before God. Well, don't these
things deserve to be punished? You say our crimes against men
deserve to be punished. What about our crimes against
the Holy God? God is right when He judges. That's what David said in Psalm
51. He's right. I don't have a problem
with God's justice. I don't have a problem when God
denounces evil and God says the soul that sins has got to die. That's what His law says. Our
Lord Jesus died, first of all, to satisfy God. His death. His death. It was a penal death. Never forget that. It was a penal
death. What do you mean by that? It
was a penalty death. That's why it was a vicious death.
It was a violent death. It was a bloody death. It was
a horrible death. He didn't just go to sleep. They
didn't give him a shot and he went into a coma and then he
just passed on out of this life, he died. Oh no, because our sins
against God demand violent justice. You look through the Old Testament,
all those sacrifices had died. It wasn't a quick death. Slit
their throat and watch them bleed out. And those animals kicking
and those lambs. Why, people who are, you know,
against cruelty to animals, they'd just be upset with that. But
God was teaching a lesson. The lesson was you see that animal
kicking there and as his blood flows out, that warm blood flowing
out of him, life draining out of him and he's kicking and kicking
and he slows down and finally he dies. God was teaching us
a lesson. He was teaching Israel a lesson.
Your sins against me demand violent retribution. Violent vengeance,
that's what God was saying. And God said, vengeance is mine,
I will repay. Behold, there comes into this
world one who had no sin. He's the perfect man. He's God
also. God joined to our humanity and
he goes through this life sinless. Perfect. And then he goes to
the cross of Calvary and he dies. And you say, well, that's unfair. Well, it's unfair in a way, because
as Pontius Pilate said, I find no fault in this man. But by
imputation, he had the fault. He had the guilt. because he
bore in his own body on the tree all of the guilt, all of the
sins of all of his people of all of the ages. To put it as
Isaiah did in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse six, all we like
sheep have gone astray. We've all turned to his own way
and the Lord hath laid on him. What does that mean? Made to
meet on him the iniquities of us all. You remember on the day
of atonement, you've read about it in the book of Leviticus chapter
16, Aaron would lay his hands upon a goat and he would confess
all the sins of Israel. Oh God, we're an ungodly nation. We're a sinful people. We're
laden with iniquities, but I laid my hands on this goat and in
a, just not a real way, but in a symbolic way, The sins of Israel
were transferred to that goat. Not in reality, but this is a
picture. And then the goat is led away
into a land uninhabited by a fit man, the scripture says. And
that fit man comes back having released the goat out there in
the wilderness. Well, our Lord Jesus, He is our
scapegoat. And on him, God put all the sins,
all of the guilt of all of his people of all ages. And our God
held him responsible. And he must die. He had to die. Not a pleasant death, but a violent
death. And man bruised him and they
whipped him and they crucified him, but God whipped his soul. God put stripes on his heart,
on his inward man. God put forth all of the vengeance. You think of this, all of the
vengeance in the heart of God toward the sins of all of his
people was put on Christ Jesus. And he died. A violent death,
a penal death. And by that death, he satisfied
God. I tell you, he died, first of
all, for God. And you don't hear that too much.
But that needs to be emphasized in this day, where we're made,
man's made the center of everything. We need to understand our Lord
Jesus died for God. He died to honor God. He died
to uphold the integrity of God's law. He honored it, He kept it,
He fulfilled every letter of the law. And then He died under
its penalty. But the second thing then is,
not only did Christ die to meet the demands of the Father, He
died to meet the needs of His people. All what needs we had, needed
to be forgiven. God can't forgive without sacrifice. What do you think all those Old
Testament sacrifices meant? When Abel brought the firstling
of his flock, he brought it to God. There's every indication
there in Genesis chapter four that he brought it on the same
day of the week and he brought it to the same location. He had
a place of worship. And he offered the blood to God. And Abel was saying by that,
my sins and the sins of my family deserve death. I bring substitute. I tell you, one of the most blessed
truths in all the Bible is the truth of substitution. And it's
found throughout, throughout. If the guilty are to go free,
an innocent victim has to die in their place. Our Lord Jesus,
he satisfied all that God demanded, then he met all of our needs.
He's our substitute. He died for us. He didn't have
any sins of his own. He took ours. And in the Lord Jesus, Everything
we need, we receive due to His death. His death is the key to
all of this. From old eternity, from eternity
past to eternity future, there's one event to which back yonder
look forward to and out yonder looks backward to. And it's the
event that we still look back to, the substitutionary atonement,
the redemptive work, the death and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It wasn't just something that
happened to mark on a calendar. There's our salvation right there. There's our reconciliation to
God. That's where everything was settled. That's where we were saved. Peter
wrote to people, he says, you were redeemed. You were redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. This is a fact. Our Lord Jesus, he's ascended
up on high. He's led captivity captive and
he's received gifts for man. And look at the rest of verse
18. Yes, for the rebellious also. Is there a rebel in here this
morning? I got news for you. We're all rebels. This is for rebels too. You say,
Jim, I'm such a terrible person. Surely this is not for me. You're
saying you're a rebel? Yes, I am. It's for the rebellious
also. Got any rebels in here? It's
for the rebellious also. that the Lord God might dwell
among them. That the Lord God might dwell
with us. How can God dwell with us? Everything God is, we aren't,
and everything we are, God isn't. How can God dwell with us, and
how can we dwell with Him? How can God abide our presence?
He's a consuming fire. You draw near to God, He'll consume
you. God told Moses, you can't see
my face in the living. Ain't people forgot how great
God is? How holy God is? How magnificent
God is? They've whittled God down to
just a big grandfather up in the sky who wants to do good
for people if they'd only let Him. They forgot who God is.
God's holy. God's righteous. God sits on
His throne. He's the infinite Lord. He dwells
in light that's unapproachable. You can't approach to Him. He's
invisible. He inhabits eternity. That's
the greatness of God. You mean He's going to dwell
with us? With us? You think God will dwell with
you? He's way up yonder and you're way down here. We're just magnets
of the dust. Scripture says we drink in nicotine
like water. You think God's going to dwell
with you? Who do you think you are that the Holy God, magnificent,
overall, glorious, righteous, holy, pure? What makes you think
God would dwell with you, God would abide with you? He's such
a sinful creature. And me too. Oh, He dwells with us. in, through, and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, I'll be your God. I'll
be your God. You'll be my people. And he dwells
with us. And God says, I won't ever leave
you. I won't ever forsake you. But how can God dwell with me? You've already told me. You done
tore me down. You've put me down in the dust. You've told me I'm virtually
nothing. I'm a sinful creature. I drink iniquity. I sin all the
time. How can God dwell with me? Through
Christ Jesus and his substitutionary death. That's how God can abide
your presence. because He sees you in His Son. He sees you in the beauties of
Christ, in the righteousness of Christ. He sees all of your
sins forgiven by Christ. I tell you what, when I think
of the future, three big events that make me
real serious, And I think about them a lot. How's it going to
be with me? Death, and then the final resurrection,
and then the judgment. How can I face death? I can only
face death willingly and submissively through Christ Jesus, my Lord.
That's the only way. So I'll be strong in the time
of death, will you? Bring it on! Yeah? We'll see. Maybe the Lord will
give you strength. And I'll tell you something else.
The time of the resurrection, my body's going to be put in
the ground. How's it going to come out of the ground? The Lord's
got to do that. And then I'm going to have to
face Him. I think about the judgment. And
I think about what the Bible says. Every secret thought's
gonna be made known. Every word spoken, whispering. Every vile imagination. And I say, oh God, oh God, how
can I ever stand acceptably before you at the judgment? And God's
got all these sins written down in the books. The books, Revelation
chapter 20. The books are gonna be open.
And there in the books recorded all the guilt, all the sins,
all the words, all the thoughts, all the rotten motives, all of
them written in a book. Oh my God, how can I stand before
you in that day? But you know what, for the people
of God, Ain't nothing in them books. Something's happened to all my
sins. The Lord Jesus washed them all away. On the books of God,
and I know that's figurative language, the books of God. God
doesn't need books to remind Him of anything. But whatever's in the books,
if there is anything in the books concerning the people of God,
Right on top of those books, it's going to say for those who
are in Christ Jesus, do not open. That's stamped with the blood
of Jesus Christ. Stamped with His blood. Do not
open. That's the only way I can stand
before the judgment of God in Christ Jesus. No wonder David then goes on
to say in verse 19, blessed be the Lord. Eulogize, this is a
eulogy to God? Blessed be the Lord who daily
loatheth us with benefits. Now, if God were to just give
us a few good things, that'd be merciful and that'd be wonderful. Lord, I'm not, oh, Jacob said,
I'm not worthy of the least of your mercies. Well, Jacob, you're right. You're
not. And I'm not. And we're all called
the sons of Jacob. We're just like him. We're not
deserving of the least of God's mercies. But he daily loatheth
us with benefit. More than you could ever number.
This is a heap of them. Not just a few. He loads us with
benefits. Well, who does this? Even the
God of our salvation. You got more blessings upon you. You are the people of God. You
who believe the Lord Jesus Christ. You got more benefits. heaped
upon you than you could ever number. You have no idea how
blessed you are, and I don't either. We just don't have any
idea. That old song, count your many
blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what
the Lord hath done. You can't name them one by one
because you don't even know all of them. You don't even know
all of them. Here's what it says in Ephesians
chapter 1, and that's another eulogy to God, that God has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
All spiritual, all of them. How many spiritual blessings
do you reckon God's capable of giving? More than you could ever
count. But all of them are yours. They're
yours. Don't ever complain about a thing
again. Well, I don't have very much.
You got all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. You reckon that's enough? Shame on us for bad-mouthing
the divine providence of God. He's given you all spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus. He's loaded you. He loads on
you daily, all benefits. Whew. Became comprehended. Especially when I think of who
He's loaded them upon. Me? Me? All I deserve is death, hell,
and judgment. But He's loaded all these spiritual
benefits upon me. Even the God of our salvation. All of these benefits heaped
on us. Well, should it be said, Selah! Shout it out, Selah! Stop and
think about that. That's what that means. Now you
stop and think, don't you read that and just breeze right over
it. Stop and think about it. The God of our salvation who
daily loatheth us with benefits, now that's something to stop
and give great contemplation to. Not much use going any further. Just spend a while there. But he goes on to say this, he
that is our God, he that is our God is the God of salvation. He is the God of salvation. He
originated it. He brings it to pass. He'll perfect
it. We were saved in the covenant
of grace. We were saved when the Lord Jesus
Christ died for us. We were saved when the Spirit
of God quickened us and we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear
me poor sinner, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. That's what the Bible says. And the Apostle Paul says, now
is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. Peter says in 1 Peter 1, he talks
about the end of your salvation, the salvation of your soul. This
salvation, it had a beginning in the mind and heart of God.
And it'll have its perfection when we are with the Lord in
glory in bodies that are incorruptible and immortal. And we stand in
the very purity of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when salvation
will be accomplished. He that is our God is the God
of salvation. Salvation is not of you. This
generation has been thrown such a religious curve and I'm so
sorry. You know, they make salvation
something you do. Something you bring about by
your decision or walk the aisle. Come down here and make your
decision for Jesus. Salvation is not that way. Well,
I'm going to start to do better. Well, if you've been doing bad,
start to do better. But that's not salvation either.
I believe I'll just join your church. Well, maybe so. But that's not going to save
you either. Well, I think I need to be baptized to wash my sins
away. If that's what you think baptism
is and you tell me that, I'm not going to baptize you. You're
not going into these waters. You can go into water somewhere
else, but it's not going to be baptism. You're just going in
a dry center and coming out a wet center is all. No. He that is our God is the God
of salvation. And I'll tell you, the Scripture
says God is our salvation. The Lord is our salvation. Somebody
is salvation. Christ Jesus. Old Simeon saw
the Lord Jesus when Mary and Joseph brought Him into the temple. He'd been waiting. He'd been
looking for the Messiah. Because the Spirit of God told
him, said, you're not going to die until you see Him. And here comes that little baby
in the arms of Mary. And Simeon said, I sure would
like to hold your baby. Can I hold your baby? She gave it to Simeon. He looked
into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, well Lord, I'm
ready to die now. Because mine eyes have seen thy
salvation. Thy salvation. Christ Jesus is
salvation. He accomplished salvation. More
than that, He is our salvation. He that is our God is the God
of salvation. And watch this. And unto God
the Lord belong the issues from death, the fruits from death,
the results from death, They belong to Him. This is salvation. This is God's salvation. Psalm
37, 39 says, the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. I tell you
what, when Noah and his wife and sons and daughters-in-law,
when they went into the ark If there had been a bumper sticker
on that ark, it wouldn't have said, smile, God loves you. I
promise you that. That would mock the misery of
those who were dying in the flood. But I'll tell you what it could
have said. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. And God told the Israelite fathers,
you put the blood over the doorposts, on the side posts and over the
doorposts of your house. And when I pass through Egypt,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I won't kill your firstborn
child. It'll be safe. It'll be spared. They'll be delivered.
They'll be rescued. They put that blood up there,
they could have put also on that door. Salvations of the Lord. That's right. Salvations of the
Lord. When Rahab the harlot, living there in Jericho, she told the spies of the men
who came sent by Joshua, she said, listen, I believe your
God's a true God. when y'all come through, and
I know this is marked for destruction. My city's marked for destruction,
and rightfully so. But she said, I'm gonna put this
scarlet cord out. Spare me and spare my household. And I'll tell you what, them
Israelite soldiers came through there and they tore that city
down. God knocked the walls down, and
then they tore the buildings down. But one building was standing,
and why didn't Selma see a sign on that building that said, Salvation
of the Lord? That's the only reason my building's
still standing, and the only reason your building is still
standing. It's because of salvation of
the Lord. See, that's what's taught all the way through the
Bible. This is God's salvation. Don't you try to steal His glory
now. That'd get you in a heap of trouble.
You give Him glory. This is God's salvation from
beginning to end. From election to redemption to
conviction to regeneration. to the gift of repentance, and
the gift of faith, and perseverance, and taking a home to glory, and
perfected in Christ Jesus? This is God's salvation. It's
the only one that's in account. It's the only one that's worth
anything. All the rest of them salvations that men talk about,
you talked them all in the trash can. They're no good. They're
not going to help you. But God's salvation stands forever. Because who it is, who is salvation? Christ and all that He did for
us. Well, let's sing a song.